A jealous boyfriend abuses 3 year toddler to death
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S'PORE MAN JAILED 7 YEARS FOR KILLING TODDLER BITTEN & THEN BEATEN TO DEATH - He punches boy's face
- He slams boy's head against door frame
- He pinches boy's genitals, then bites genitals, thigh & nose
- He slaps boy hard on back
By Chong Shin Yen May 21, 2009 HIS mother had hoped that her lover would become his stepfather and help to raise him after her marriage ended.
Instead, her boyfriend became jealous of the toddler because he felt she cared more for her son than him.
As they argued frequently, his temper became worse and he grew more impatient with the boy.
On the day Muhammad Izzul Salihin Muhammad Farzid turned 3 on 14 Jan last year, tragedy struck.
MISSED: In this file picture, Mr Muhammad Farzid shows a photo of his son as a baby in his wallet. TNP FILE PICTURES The boyfriend bashed him so brutally that the toddler became brain-dead and died in hospital four days later.
Firdaus Abdullah, 27, was yesterday jailed for seven years and given 12 strokes of the cane after a nine-day trial. He was convicted of causing grievous hurt and ill-treating the boy.
The day before the tragedy, the couple had fought over Izzul.
His mother, Madam Nadiyana Yacoub, shouted at Firdaus to leave her flat as she wanted to find a better stepfather for her son.
This incensed Firdaus.
The next day at about 7.30am, Madam Nadiyana went to the Syariah Court for her divorce proceedings, leaving Firdaus to look after Izzul.
Soon after she left, the boy started crying because he wanted his mother.
Firdaus tried to pacify him but to no avail. Frustrated by the incessant crying, Firdaus shouted at Izzul and made him stand in the bedroom and face the wall.
When the boy ended up crying even louder, Firdaus snapped.
He hit and punched Izzul's face and forehead again and again.
He also hit the boy's chin with an upward punch.
He then grabbed Izzul's face, lifted him and swung him in the air before slamming his head against the bedroom's door frame.
He pulled down the boy's diapers, grabbed his penis, then shook, squeezed, pinched and pulled it violently.
Firdaus then bit his genitals, right thigh and nose.
He finally gave Izzul a hard slap on his back.
By the time he was done, the boy's cries had become softer.
Sensing something amiss, Firdaus went to ask his neighbours for help to call for an ambulance.
The boy was rushed to KK Women's and Children's Hospital with multiple injuries.
He underwent emergency surgery and was warded in the intensive care unit. But he died without waking four days later.
Earlier attack
The court also heard that Firdaus had also hit Izzul two days before the fatal attack.
He was angry after the boy kept crying and refused to let Firdaus towel him dry after his shower.
Firdaus clenched his fist and hit the boy on his head, causing him to fall on his buttocks.
He hit Izzul so hard that his own knuckles became swollen.
Firdaus had moved in with Madam Nadiyana in her rental flat at Jalan Minyak, off Chin Swee Road, in late 2007 and agreed to be Izzul's stepfather, the court was told.
But he became jealous because he felt she was closer to her son.
He complained about how she paid more attention to the boy and also about how she spent more time with him.
They argued frequently over this and by December 2007, Firdaus had become bad-tempered, frustrated, stressed and impatient with the boy.
He was originally charged with murder, but it was later reduced to one charge of causing grievous hurt and two charges of ill-treating a child.
For causing grievous hurt, Firdaus could have been jailed seven years and caned.
For ill-treating a child, he could have been jailed four years and fined $4,000.
adapted from http://www.tnp.sg/news/story/0%2c4136%2c202614%2c00.html
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i read this on the internet from a friend who sent me the link. and i felt it's really unfair. Seven years of jail is too little.
This is a 3 year old! he can't even speak and sing or run well!! how is it that this man can cruelly hit him? bad enough he punched him in the face, and the forehead again and again. but then he still went on as if it's a 30 year old man wrestling with him.
what do you think?
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based on what he did, it is unfair to hold him liable for culpable homicide, therefore he was convicted of causing hurt by rashness
It seems unfair that he was only given 7 years, but unfortunately that is the maximum imprisonment period under 'causing of death by rash act', hence the Court has already done all it could by imposing the maximum sentence
This is one area of law which is contentious, where some lawyers feel that 7 years is too lenient for this charge, given that the next level is culpable homicide which carries the sentence of life imprisonment. 7 years to life imprisonment is too steep a gradient, hence I personally think that the sentence should be reformed and increased up to 20 years, then the accused in this case would not have gotten off so easily.
Nonetheless, it must be noted that any reform to the penal code can only be undertaken by the parliament and not by the judiciary.